A seed meter carried on a row unit of a planting implement dispenses seed and includes a seed transport member in which a plurality of seed cells is defined around the outer perimeter region thereof. As the seed transport member rotates within the housing of the seed meter, each individual seed cell completes repeated rotations around the housing of the seed meter. During each rotation, each particular seed cell will pass through different regions of the seed meter. When passing through the seed pool region of the seed meter, each seed cell typically acquires at least one seed during normal operation of the seed meter.
It is known to draw inferences about the operational status of the seed meter by a sensor that detects when seed is dropping through the seed tube. However, seed tube sensors are exposed to the dust buildup from the seeds, the field and from seed lubricant, and thus the information obtained can prove unreliable. It also is known to provide a sensor within the seed pool region of the seed meter in order to monitor whether there are sufficient seeds in the seed pool to enable each seed cell to acquire seed so that the seed meter can operate in a normal fashion. However, because the information provided by such sensors can result from any of a number of different operating conditions within the seed meter, such sensors only provide indirect evidence of the operational status of the seed meter in real time. Thus, it is difficult to use this information as the basis for diagnosing operational malfunctions of the seed meter and accordingly prescribing corrective actions to overcome or ameliorate such malfunctioning of the seed meter.